Control mechanism of multi-colour printing machines having a plurality of printing units



W. KOCH Aug. 2. 1955 2,714,351 NES CONTROL MECHANISM OF MULTI-COLOUR PRINTING MACHI HAVING A PLURALITY OF PRINTING UNITS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 18, 1951 Inventor: a ff N612 AVQC ll 6 fix W A1182. 2, W. KOCH CONTROL MECHANISM OF MULTI-COLOUR PRINTING MACHINES HAVING A PLURALITY OF PRINTING UNITS Filed Aug. 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 13 r 56 A 1/11/11: 717' 5b 1 35 "59 as ll Im/emon: Main-we. 1/

CONTROL MECHANISM OF MULTI-COLOUR PRINTING MACHINES HAVING A PLU- RALITY OF PRINTING UNITS Werner Koch, Offenbach (Main), Germany, assignor to Faber & Schleicher Aktiengesellschaft, Offenbach (Main), Germany, a corporation of Germany The present invention concerns a process of and a mechanism for tripping the cylinders of multi-colour printing machines composed of several printing couples in an on or oit position, the purpose of the invention being that the tripping on of the cylinders on all the printing couples should not take place until the first sheet of paper arrives at the particular cylinder. It is also a purpose of the mechanism that when the cylinder of the first couple is tripped off, the last printed sheet should be printed in the further couples before the latter are tripped off.

in order to carry this object into eiiect in a simple manner, the invention provides that, simultaneously with the tripping movement of the cylinder or the cylinders of one couple, a revolving control element is actuated as desired, which control element revolves at a suitable speed and, after the prescribed time interval, actuates a known mechanism for tripping the printing cylinder or cylinders in the succeeding couple.

According L the invention, a suitable mechanism for carrying out the process consists of a revolving drum, in which are disposed displaceable bolts which are controlled by any desired mechanism. On tripping one couple, it is preferable to operate a magnet which displaces the bolts by way of a lever system and a cam member. The bolts, which may be provided with heads or rollers, are displaced outwardly when printing is commenced, so that they bring a lever into a raised position, whereby the printing cylinder or cylinders is or are set into operation by a known tripping mechanism by way of a link and lever system. The lever is under spring pressure, and remains in the raised position until, on the tripping off of the preceding couple, the bolts are pushed back again and thus run laterally past the lever, so that the spring returns the lever into the initial position. By this movement, the

tripping device is put into operation by way ofa link and lever system.

Instead of the revolving drum, a chain may run over two sprockets, several displaceable bolts being. mounted on said chain at uniform spacings. The displacing of the bolts can also be etiected in any desired manner. The

United. S;tates Patent 0 actuating of the lever and of the tripping device is carried out in the same manner as described above.

The invention will be described further by way of example With reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

. 'Fig. l is a general diagrammatic view of a four colour printing machine with a device constructed according to the invention. H

Fig. 2 is a front elevation in more detail of the device constructed according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is an end view in section corresponding to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail view in section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3.

In Fig, l are shown two printing couples A and B of a four colour printing machine in which the printing unit A prints two colours and printing unit B prints two further colours. These two couples may be joined with other units or couples, printing other colours.

The first couple A is actuated by a known tripping de- I vice 1 from a lever 2 through a lever rod 20 in known manner. The rubber cylinders 21 and 22 are for this purpose seated in known manner on eccentrics and when tripped off come to rest in the position 21a or 22a, indicated in dotted lines. Further there are provided in known manner:

Plate cylinder 23, dampening mechanism 24 and inking mechanism 25. The sheets to be printed arrive from a feed table 27 on to the impression cylinder 28 and travel the way indicated by a heavy line 29 from the feed table 27 round the impression cylinder 28 over a delivery cylinder 30 and a delivery chain 31 to the second printing couple B. This printing couple is in the main constructed like the printing couple A. The same reference numerals in printing couple B indicate similar parts as in the printing couple A. The tripping device 1 with the lever drive 20 although constructed in a similar way as the tripping device 1 of couple A, is however operated by a lever 17 which can pivot on a shaft 32 and is actuated through a rod 16 from a bell-crank lever 33, 14. The arm 14 is actuated by a device consisting of a magnet 4 which actuates a lever 5 turnable on a shaft 34. The magnet 4 when energised turns the pivoted lever 5 in anti-clockwise direction and against the action of a spring 35. The lever 5 has arms 5a and 5b leaving open between them a guide slit 50, into which enter the heads of pins 7 when the drum 8 is rotated. The pins 7 then rest either against the guide Ed on the arm 5a or on the guide 5e on the arm 5b, all according to whether the magnet 4 in energised or not. The pins 7 are fixed in bolts 9 which in the example of construction shown eight are provided which can be moved parallel to the shaft 36 of drum 8. If the bolts 9 are pushed out of the drum 3 as shown in Fig. 3, then their heads 13 protrude Within reach of lever 14 and bring this lever into the position as in Fig. 2. The lever 14 is under the influence of a tension spring 15 which keeps it in contact with the bolt heads 13. The pins 9 have grooves 10 and 11 in which, according to the position of the bolts, a snap ring 12 is adapted to engage in order to prevent free movement of the bolts.

The number of revolutions of drum ii is in definite relation to the revolutions of the impression cylinder 28 or the feed drum 37. The transmission ratio to the impression cylinder 28 or feed drum 37 by the said drum 8 being driven by a gear on the shaft of the delivery cylinder 30 is so chosen that the drum 8 makes a complete revolution while the sheets to be printed travel from point 38 in printing couple A to point 39 in printing unit B. Thus if lever 2 is moved so that the feeding and the printing of further sheets by cylinders 21 or 22 in the printing couple A ceases then the work in the printing unit B continues, although current through the lead 3 to the magnet 4 is cut ofli, the moment in which printing couple t is tripped oii. The working of the printing couple B continues as long as the last sheet which has already been printed in printing couple A, passes the printing unit B. This is attained by the bell-crank lever 5 swinging in clockwise direction (Fig. 3) under the pull of spring 35 as soon as the magnet 4 is de-energised. The guide tracks 5d and 5e then change position to the right (Figs. 3 and 4) so that the bolts 7 are now actuated by guide track 5d and pushed to the right by projection 57. The bolts 9 in the drum 8 are thereby drawn back as the drum 8 rotates in direction of the arrow 40 the drawing back of the bolt heads 13 does not aifect the position of lever 14 until it has covered nearly 360. When all the bolts 9 have been pushed into the drum in this manner the lever 14 can react to the force of spring 15 and switch out the printing couple B through the levers 16, 17, 2t).

If the printing couple A is again tripped on by means of lever 2 the magnet 4 becomes energised at the same time and swings the lever 5 in anti-clockwise direction. The pin heads 7 entering the guide slit 50 again come under the influence of the guide track 52 and of the projection 5g with which it is provided, again pushed towards the left so that the heads 13 of the bolts 9 move out of the drum 8. After corresponding rotation of the drum 3 the pin heads 13 raise the lever 14 against the action of the spring 15 and in this way the printing couple 3 is tripped on.

I claim:

1. In a multi-colour printing machine comprising a plurality of printing couples having a sheet delivery cylinder in each couple, a tripping device in the first and each successive couple and means including a revoluble control drum driven in fixed relation to the printing mechanism of its pertaining couple for delaying the tripping of the successive couples in relation to the first couple, geared means between said sheet delivery cylinder and said con trol drum, a plurality of spaced bores extending longitudinally through the said drum, slots in the said bores extending through the outer walls thereof, bolts slidable in the said bores, a cross pin on each of said bolts projecting through its pertaining slot to the outside of said drum, a a:

cam lever arranged for contact with the said cross pins and for thereby moving said bolts out of and into the said bores, means between the said cam lever and its preceding tripping device for actuating the said cam lever simultaneously with the actuation of the said tripping device, a tripping device operating lever cooperating with the pro jecting ends of said bolts so as to be held inoperative thereby but to operate its pertaining tripping device on the said bolts being retracted by the said cam lever.

2. In a multi-colour printing machine comprising a. plurality of printing couples having a sheet delivery cylinder in each couple, a tripping device in the first and each successive couple and means including a revoluble control drum driven in fixed relation to the printing mechanism of its pertaining couple for delaying the tripping of the successive couples in relation to the first couple, geared means between said sheet delivery cylinder and said control drum for driving said control drum in definite relation to the feed of the sheets, a plurality of spaced longitudinal bores in the said drum, slots in the said bores extending through the outer wall thereof, bolts slidable in the said bores, cross pins on the said bolts extending radially to the outside of said drum, resilient catches for maintaining said bolts in their respective end positions within said bores, a normally inoperative tripping device actuating lever for cooperation with the protruding ends of said bolts, a cam lever cooperating with said cross pins for consecutively moving said bolts during the rotation of the said drum into and, out of contact with the said tripping device actuating member, and a spring-controlled member actuated by its preceding tripping device for moving said cam lever into and out of its bolt shifting position.

3. In a multi-colour printing machine comprising a \plurality of printing couples having a sheet delivery cylinder in each couple, a tripping device in the first and each successive couple and means including a revoluble control drum driven in fixed relation to the printing mechanism of its pertaining couple, gear wheels between said sheet delivery cylinder and said control drum for driving the latter in definite relation to the feed of the sheets, a plurality of spaced longitudinal bores in the said drum near the circumference thereof, slots in the said bores extending to the outside of the drum, bolts slidable in said bores, cross pins on the said bolts extending radially to the outside of the said drum, a normally inoperative tripping device actuating lever for cooperation with the protruding ends of said bolts, a cam lever having a part-circular cam portion substantially parallel to the circumference of the said drum, a guide surface on said cam portion serving for guiding said cross pins into the protruding position of the said bolts,'another guide surface opposite said first guide surface for guiding the said pins into the retracted position of the said bolts, a gap between the two guide surfaces for the heads of the said cross pins to enter in between the said guide surfaces, and a spring-controlled lever operatively connected to the'preceding tripping device for alternately turning said cam lever with its guide surfaces into its bolt out-pushing and into its bolt-retracting position of said cross pins.

4. In a multi-colour printing machine as set forth in claim 3 in which the means for actuating the springcontrolled lever which moves the cam lever into its bolt out-pushing position is an electro-magnet energized and deenergized by the actuation of its respective tripping device.

5. In a multi-colour printing machine having a plurality of printing couples connected in series with a delivery cylinder in each couple, a tripping device for each consecutive pair of couples comprising means for tripping said first couple and means for tripping each successive couple in delayed dependence of said first couple, a drum geared to said delivery cylinder so as to rotate in synchronism to the printing cylinders and to the delivery of the sheets, a plurality of axially disposed bores in the said drum near the circumference thereof, displaceable bolts arranged in said bores, a shift pin on each of said bolts at right angles thereto and extending through a longitudinal slot in the periphery of the drum, a spring-controlled tripping device actuating lever turnable at right angles to the axis of said drum for tripping said second couple and positioned in the path of movement of the said bolts when they have been moved to project to the outside of said drum, a pivoted spring-controlled cam lever, two mutually opposed cam surfaces on said cam lever, an electromagnet connected to be energized by the tripping-on of said first couple to attract said pivoted cam lever, one cam surface of which being thereupon adapted to swing into the path of the said shift pins to successively displace said bolts outwardly of said drum to eventually operate said tripping device operating lever for tripping-on the said second couple, said magnet being deenergized by the tripping-01f of the said first couple so as to relieve said pivoted cam lever and to thereby swing the other camsurface into the path of the said shift pins to successively return said bolts to inside their respective bores eventually to release said tripping device actuating lever to trip off said second couple.

Horton Apr. 22, 1947 

